


The Melancholy of Neil Josten

by Shay_Leizelbeth



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - High School, Don’t ask me where it’s set I have no idea, Espers, I also have no idea how long this is going to be, Kevin is Kyon, M/M, Neil is Haruhi, The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya AU, Time travelers, and more - Freeform, how do you tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24615595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shay_Leizelbeth/pseuds/Shay_Leizelbeth
Summary: Kevin stopped believing in things like aliens, time travelers and espers, back in middle school. But after meeting the beautiful and eccentric Neil Josten, Kevin begins to learn that maybe he was wrong.BTW this is my first attempt at a fanfic so be gentle
Relationships: Kevin Day/Neil Josten
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Kevin had never believed in Santa Claus.

Even as a child he knew that the whole concept of a Santa Claus didn’t make any sense. Imagine some random red clad man zooming through the air once a year to break into people’s houses and deliver presents to children that he deemed to be “good.” The whole concept was off.  
Any appearances made by mall Santa’s, or his father’s sad attempts at dressing the role only made him more aware of the truth of Santa’s existence. Which is to say that he didn’t exist.

However, despite the fact that he always knew that Santa was a farce, it wasn’t until around halfway through middle school that he came to realize that things like aliens, time travelers, and espers were also not real.

In hindsight, he should have realized it sooner. However, perhaps there was just some part of him that wanted it to be real. That wanted the impossible and unexplainable to be real. That wanted something extraordinary to take place in his life. Maybe if something like that existed and the heroes in the shows he watched after shook could also be real.  
But pretty soon, the harsh reality of life came crashing down and he had to realize that aliens and time travelers and espers were just about as real as Santa Claus.  
  
And he would continue to believe that the impossible was just that. Impossible. And that the things he read in comics and saw on TV were only meant to exist there.  
At least he would continue to believe that until he met him.

* * *

It was Kevin’s first day of high school. The sun had been shining brightly on the day that would mark the beginning of his high school career. The sun combined with the trek he had to make up the hill to school managed to make him sweat enough that his uniform was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable.

The uniforms for the school were a standard blazer and button up shirt combo for the boys and a less standard sailor style uniform for the girls. A strange distinction that made Kevin question the motives of whoever had been the one to make the decision.

He was sitting in homeroom where his teacher had decided that everyone should introduce themselves, which is something that Kevin hadn’t done since elementary school. For the most part everyone’s introductions were the standard fare. Their name, the middle school they came from, maybe a couple of their interests and well wishes moving forward with the new year.

Kevin finished his own introduction with an awkward bow and sat down waiting for the person behind him to make their own introduction.

“My name is Neil Josten from East Junior High. I’m not interested in ordinary humans. If any of you are aliens, time travelers, otherworldly beings, or espers please come see me. That’s all.”

_Am I supposed to find that funny?_

Kevin turned around to see an incredibly pretty boy standing behind him. He had a serious expression on his face, pretty blue eyes glaring at some point in front of him as though ready to pick a fight. His hair was long and auburn, held back by a yellow headband.

Most people would have thought that Neil was joking. And many of his classmates seemed to immediately right off his weird ramblings as Neil sat back down.

However, Neil was serious. He was always deadly serious.

It wouldn’t be until later that Kevin would find out that pretty much everyone his class was already used to Neil’s particular brand of crazy. A vast majority of them had gone to the same high school as him, so they were already familiar with Neil’s eccentricities as they began to surface in the coming weeks.

* * *

Before that, though, Kevin had managed to hear whispers and rumors about Neil from his former school mates.

He had apparently been responsible for what had been deemed “the quad scribbles incident.” Supposedly, he had drawn some strange symbols on the quad at his middle school. He even came forward and confessed that he had done it. When asked why he simply stated that he had been trying to communicate with aliens.

Despite all his weirdness though, he was quite popular back at his old school. He was smart and pretty and excellent at sports. He was sought after by both girls and boys, and had even dated quite a few, though there was also strangeness surrounding this rumor.

Apparently, while Neil had indeed been in several relationships over the course of his middle school career, none of them had lasted long. He would always say yes to whoever asked him, but pretty soon he would break it off with them. The longest was a week and the shortest was five minutes.  
And with all this Neil’s eccentricities finally decided to make an appearance.

* * *

Neil Josten Eccentricity #1

Neil’s hair was quite long, reaching to about mid back. Kevin had noticed it when he first saw him, but it wasn’t until two weeks later that he began to notice the strange pattern that Neil had adopted with his hair.

Neil had a different hairstyle for each day of the week.

On Monday he would start off with it loose. Tuesday, a ponytail. Wednesday, some pigtails. And it would continue on in this vein, adding a tie off point each day until eventually resetting on Monday.

In addition to the tie off points, the color of whatever hair accessory he wore also changes. Mondays were yellow. Tuesdays were red. Wednesday was blue. Thursday, green. Friday, gold.

Kevin couldn’t help but wonder what his hair looked like on Sunday.

Neil Josten Eccentricity #2

For P.E., the school didn’t have locker rooms, so students had to either change in the bathrooms or classrooms. Boys changed in the odd numbered classrooms and girls in the even numbered ones.

However, it seemed like someone forgot to tell that to Neil.  
As soon as the bell rang, signifying that it was time to start changing out, Neil would get up and immediately start changing without any regard for who was around him. It seemed to him like everyone was about the same as a bag of potatoes in the corner.

Since he didn’t seem to care either way who was watching, the girls started making a habit to sprint out of the room when the bell rang. Even some of the boys had begun trying to save the girl’s virtue by blocking their view of Neil with their school bags and bodies.

Neil Josten Eccentricity #4

Lunch was normally a free period where students were free to spend there time eating in their classrooms or the cafeteria. Kevin personally preferred to spend his lunch with the few friends he had managed to scrounge up, eating together by his desk and somehow managing to take up the space of both his own desk and Neil's. Kevin had felt bad about it at first, but quickly realized that it wouldn't be a problem.

Neil pretty much never spent his lunch period in class. And from the few times that Kevin had gone to the cafeteria, he wasn't spending his time there either. 

Not only would he disappear during lunch, but also during the breaks between classes. No one knew where he wandered off too, but even if you asked it's not like he would answer.

Neil Josten Eccentricity #3

In almost a few weeks, Neil had managed to join and quit every single club and sports team that the school had to offer.

Neil’s incredible athleticism caused every team to practically beg on their knees for him to join their teams. And while he did, it was only a matter of days before he would inevitably quit.

Same went for clubs.

He was constantly in and out of them and would join them regardless of what they were for.

Kevin questioned why he even joined in the first place.

* * *

It was the day after the first break of the year. 

Kevin walked into the classroom prepared to take his seat, when he noticed Neil. He was sitting at his own seat, glaring at nothing, which seemed to be his default state. He noticed that he had his hair tied back in a ponytail held together by a red ribbon. Kevin thought that the look suited him.

Honestly, he thought that Neil looked best with his hair held back like that. The first time he had taken notice of it was in P.E. Neil had been running and the way his hair trailed behind him, only held together by a single ribbon, was almost angelic.

Looking back on it, Kevin wouldn't be able to say way he decided to say what he next said. However, he would be able to call it the beginning of the end. Or perhaps it was the beginning of the beginning.

"So, I guess it's Tuesday, huh?" Kevin sat in his chair and then turned around. "Is there any reason you do that to your hair? Like is it to ward off aliens or something like that?"

"Oh, you noticed." Neil glanced at him and then turned back to whatever random location he was looking before. "It's not because of aliens or anything like that. I just think that everyday has it's own image and color that goes with it."

He went on to explain his day color theory, essentially listing the color that pertained to each day. 

"Yeah, I get what you mean." Kevin nodded at Neil's explanation, and surprisingly found his comment to be true. If he was honest, he thought that Neil would have just called him a loser or ignored him. Yet here they were having an actual conversation. "And if you translate the colors to numbers, then Monday would be zero and Sunday would be six."

"Yeah." Neil nodded, still looking at nothing. Maybe he was trying to look at the window. It would be hard to considering that both of their seats were all the way across the room from them.

"But, I feel like Monday is more of a one than zero." 

"I don't remember asking for your opinion." Neil turned to Kevin for the first time with an annoyed expression. The annoyance, however, left his face in favor for an expression of confusion. His eyes squinting as he stared at Kevin for what felt like forever. Kevin just stared back, unsure of how to respond.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Neil suddenly asked, breaking the silence. 

"I don't think so." Kevin responded, though it came out as more of a question than an answer.

Instead of responding, Neil just sighed and looked away. Before Kevin could say anything else, the teacher came and started to begin class. 

* * *

The next day Kevin walked in to see that Neil had cut his hair short.

It was now at about the normal length for a boy his age, but with still enough length that he would be able tie it back if needed. 

Kevin was shocked. Not even a day between their conversation and Neil had gone and chopped his hair off. It seemed almost like he was offended by Kevin's comments for some reason, though he could think of why. And even if he was offended, he didn't have to go and hack his hair away. I mean, didn't that seem a little rash?

"No, not really."

* * *

Regardless of the cut hair, a routine of sorts had begun.

Everyday before class began, Kevin and Neil would have a bit of a chat. Normally, they would consists of Kevin bringing up several of the rumors surrounding Neil and he would, in his own Neily way start to either full on deny them or go more into detail on the truth of the matter. It seemed to Kevin like Neil hadn't had many chances to talk about these things and he, like most teenagers, needed an outlet to vent. And Kevin, for some reason unknown to him, had become that outlet.

Today's topic of conversation: Dating.

"Is it true that you've dumped everyone you've ever dated?"

"So what if I did?" Neil crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, a scowl on his face. "And what gives you the right to ask me a question like that anyway?" He ran a hand through his hair, a habit that Kevin had begun to notice he had. "Whatever, if you want to believe it, then fine go ahead. It's not like it matters."

"But after dating all those people there's gotta be at least one that you liked, right?"

"Absolutely not." An immediate response. " They all took themselves so seriously. And most of them ended up asking me out over the phone. What's up with that? I mean shouldn't important conversations like that happen face to face not phone to phone?"

"Yeah, I guess." Kevin decided he would just agree to whatever he was saying.

"Also not a single one of them was an alien, time traveler, or an esper."

"Well that's how most people are, usually."

"None of that's important anyway."

"Then what is?"

"The important thing to take away from this is that everyone in this entire universe is pathetic." Neil declared. "That's like the only thing I could think of all throughout middle school."

_Well that seems kinda harsh._

"What kind of person would you have been into then?" Kevin was starting to get a little concerned for Neil's view on the world. "What were you hoping to date anyway, an alien or something?"

"Yeah." Neil responded with a serious expression. "Alien, time traveler, or anything like that is exactly what I mean. As long as their something like that, I don't care if it's a boy or a girl."

"Okay, but what's wrong with the person being a human?" 

"Because that way, life is more interesting."

* * *

Kevin didn't really think much about the conversation after it had happened. For all intents and purposes, it was a perfectly normal and uneventful conversation. Honestly, it was barely a conversation. It had lasted less then a minute or two, and most of that time had been taken up by that hour long stare that Neil had leveled him with. However, despite that, everyone was now looking at Kevin like he had grown a new head and he was beginning to suspect that it had something to do with the conversation he had had with Neil. 

Mostly because Riko Moriyama was talking to him about the conversation he had had with Neil.

"It's amazing that you were able to break through with him." Riko had small smile on his face that didn't quite seem to reach his eyes. "The rest of us have been trying to include him, but none of us have been able to get him to open up. You got any tips or pointers?"

Riko Moriyama was the resident class president and had taken the helm of most popular in the class, possibly grade, and wore it with a badge of honor. He was smart and athletic. He was attractive and kind to everyone. He seemed like the perfect model student, nay citizen, and everyone loved him. In a ranking that one of the girl's in their grade had started, Riko had ranked a double A+. Neil, who was also surprisingly in included in this ranking, was sitting at a comfortable A- as many of the girls believed that if he were less weird and more open, he would probably outrank Riko.

As for now, it seemed that Riko was putting together a campaign to get Neil to assimilate with the rest of the class. Kevin had often seen Riko and his crew trying to speak to Neil between classes or catch him before he managed to scurry away to where it was he wandered off to during lunch. These attempts pretty much always went the way that you expect from someone like Neil. He wouldn't respond and if he did, it was only ever a one word answer at most. 

Kevin had to give it to Riko. The guy seemed to be determined to include Neil and never seemed to be discouraged by his standoffish-ness.

"I'm just as confused as you are, believe me." Kevin responded. 

"Well, whatever you're doing, keep at it. I think it's great that Neil has at least someone he feels like he can talk to in class. And I think that maybe with you're help he'll even eventually warm up to the rest of us."

"Well that's easy for you to say." Kevin mumbled to himself.

"Then from on I'll be counting on you. Maybe you could be like a messenger, so if one of us something we need Neil to know, you can tell him for us."

"Yeah, sure...Wait what?" Kevin exclaimed. "Am I supposed to be your spokesperson?"

"Pretty please." Riko said with a mockingly sweet voice and a wink, before turning around and running off to a group of classmates he tended to spend lunch with. 

_Has everyone turned into an idiot?_

* * *

A few days later, it came time for a seating change. 

While some were sad to lose their seats or were afraid to that they would end up sitting further away from their friends, Kevin welcomed the change. Since he had begun his daily chats with Neil, various rumors had begun to spread about the two of them. Kevin was beginning to garner the reputation of "that guy who hangs out with the weird kid." And while normally being nice enough to hang around those that had no friends was a good thing, it seemed that it took on a more negative connotation in concerns to his relationship with Neil. For the most part Kevin tried to ignore the things that people said about him, but it wouldn't hurt to distance himself from the source.

Seats were chosen randomly by pulling a number out of a box and whatever seat corresponded to that number was yours. Kevin managed to get the second seat from the closest to the back, right next to the window. Prime seat real estate. However, all good things come with a catch.

Neil somehow managed to get the seat right behind him. 

_You've gotta be kidding me._

* * *

"So, I heard you've joined every club at school." 

"Yeah, and?"

Kevin was once again partaking in conversation with Neil. Their ritual of before class conversations had continued after the seat change seeing as the only change that was really made was their move over to the windows. 

"Well, I was wondering if you found any good ones."

"Absolutely none." An immediate response. "Absolutely none." Neil repeated after glancing at Kevin's incredulous look.

"You really like that word, don't you?"

"I thought things would be different in high school." Neil continued as if Kevin hadn't spoken. "But its pretty much the same bullshit as all these other school years. I mean, maybe I'm just in the wrong school or something."

"What's you're criteria for a club anyway?"

"There was this one club called the Mystery Research Club, but it was just a bunch of mystery novel nerds and they've never even had a single case, it was hilarious."

"That figures." Kevin mumbled, he was starting to get annoyed by Neil ignoring him.

"I had hope for the Supernatural Research Club but that was just a bunch of occult weirdos." Neil was starting to get pretty heated by this topic and he slammed his fists on his desk, leaning forward a bit as he did. "What do you think?"

"I don't." Kevin didn't see why Neil seemed so passionate about this topic in particular. If he didn't like any of the clubs then he shouldn't join them. 

"Jesus, I'm so bored!" Neil yelled, throwing his hands behind his head and leaning backwards so that the front legs of his chair lifted off the ground. "You think with all these clubs there'd be at least one strange and interesting."

"Well you can't help it if there aren't any," Kevin began, "I mean normal people like us have to be happy with what were given, and if we aren't happy with what we have then we make something better. People weren't born with the ability to fly. Someone wanted to, so he invented a way to do it. People got tired of having to walk everywhere, so eventually cars were invented. Most of the things that we use in our everyday lives were invented by normal humans like us that wanted to improve their lives. All in all, it seems like it's best for us ordinary humans to keep living our ordinary lives in an ordinary mann-"

"Shut up." 

And with that interruption, Neil scoffed and turned back to look out the window.

Kevin would later blame this conversation as what sparked the events that would happen next.

* * *

Kevin was sitting in class, halfway between sleep and consciousness, as his English teacher went on and on about em-dashes, or something like that. The droning quality of the teacher's voice mixed with the warm glow of the sun coming from the window was starting to lull him to sleep. 

He was fighting to try to stay awake when he suddenly felt something grab his uniform collar and pull. Hard.

Kevin came hurtling backward, his head making harsh contact with the desk behind him, the owner of which turned out to be his assailant as Neil jumped up from his seat.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" Kevin exclaimed as he also got up, turning towards Neil with an angry expression and rubbing the back of his now aching head.

"I get what you mean now," Neil began excitedly, "if it doesn't exist, I should make it myself."

"Make what?"

Neil's eyes were bright and his face seemed to shine with real genuine excitement, a smile on his face. Kevin couldn't really remember if he had ever seen Neil smile in the span of time he had known him. But Neil's expression was still shining as he said his next words.

"Make a club!"

Kevin sighed and wondered, not for the first time:

_What is wrong with this guy?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Rules for the creation of a club:_

  * _A club must have at least 5 members in order to be recognized._
  * _The club must have a teacher to supervise._
  * _A name._
  * _There must be one student in charge of the club._
  * _There must be a purpose to the organization that enhances student life._



Kevin read over the rules in the student handbook, running a hand through his hair in frustration. 

After Neil's outburst in the middle of class, Kevin had managed to convince him to calm down enough to sit back down. However, as soon as the bell had rung, Neil had grabbed him by the tie and hauled him out into a secluded stairwell. He somehow managed to be imposing even with his short stature as he basically bullied Kevin into helping him create a club.

The criteria for making a club were simple enough, but the only issue was that he had no information to go off of. 

Neil had left him without a purpose for the club, a teacher they could convince to sponsor it, any prospect for how to get more members, or even a name. He didn't really understand what exactly Neil expected him to do. 

* * *

The next day saw Kevin being hauled by the tie once again. 

Neil had grabbed him as soon as the bell had rung, letting them out for school. He hadn't bothered to clue Kevin in on wherever the hell he was being dragged off to and quite frankly Kevin was getting very sick of it. 

Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a pretty ordinary-looking door.

"Uhm, excuse me but where the hell are we?"

"We're in the old building, duh." Neil looked at him with an expression that screamed 'are you stupid.'

"I can see that, but _why_ are we in the old building?"

Neil heaved a great sigh as if explaining this was going to cause him great pain. "So, you know how some clubs need specialized rooms to do whatever it is they do. They all have their own special room somewhere. The old building is where all the clubs that don't need a special room go."

Kevin looked at the door and glanced up. There was a plaque that read 'Literary Club'.

"Isn't this the literary club room?" 

"Well, technically, but pretty much all the members graduated last year and unless more people join the club is gonna be disbanded, which means that this room is up for grabs!" As Neil explained all that, he opened the door to the room and swung his arm out to present the room to Kevin. "Isn't it just perfect?"

Kevin looked around the room. It was pretty bare except for some bookcases, a whiteboard, and a large table in the middle of the room with some chairs around it. For all intents and purposes, it was a pretty basic clubroom. That is except for the one extra feature of the room.

"Who is that?"

"Oh, that's Andrew," Neil said as he waved dismissively at the boy in question. He was seated by the window with a book in his hands that he was still engrossed in despite the two of them. He had unruly blonde hair and wire-rim glasses and instead of the standard blazer worn by most boys, he had on a large sweater that only served to make him appear smaller than he already was. "He's in the same year as us and he's part of the literary club."

"Wait, then doesn't that mean that the club won't be disbanded since he joined?" 

"Well, yeah, technically." Neil shrugged. "But he's the only member and I already asked if he minded us hanging out here and he said he didn't mind as long as he still had someplace he could read." Neil turned to look at Andrew who was still reading his book as though the two of them weren't even there. "I guess some people are just weird like that."

_Like you have room to talk._

"Even if you say that, he can't be completely okay with that."

"Then why don't' you go ahead and ask him." Neil rolled his eyes and gestured at Andrew with his head.

"Fine then, I will." Kevin walked over to Andrew who seemed just as uninterested in whatever was going on around him as he had when they had first entered the room. Kevin would have thought he was some sort of extremely realistic looking statue if it weren't for the slow turn of a page that would happen every so often. "Uhm, excuse me, my...associate, and I were wondering if you'd be okay with using this room."

"Fine by me," Andrew replied with a disinterested air, still not looking up from his book.

Kevin was taken aback by the response and was left just blinking at him for a few seconds. "Are you sure? I mean you are aware that we'd be using this room for some other club activities."

"Fine by me."

"We'll probably be pretty loud."

"Fine by me."

"You might even be forced to leave the room at some point."

"Fine by me."

"See," Neil spoke up from where he had been observing the whole interaction ", I told you he wouldn’t mind.

* * *

Despite Kevin's reservations about taking up residence in the literary club room, he soon realized that he was the only one that seemed to care at all about it and let it go. 

Now that they had a room, Neil had gotten it into his head that he had to start recruiting more members. Kevin had tried convincing him that getting people to join would be easier if the club had a purpose or even a name, but, as always, his words fell on deaf ears. Kevin was starting to wonder why he even wasted his breath. 

* * *

The next day, instead of dragging him to the new club room, Neil just told him to meet him there and then ran off.

As Kevin made the walk over to the old building, he wondered to himself why the hell he even bothered. He could have just walked back home and saved himself the unnecessary trouble. Yet here he was outside the door to the club room with his hand already around the doorknob. 

"Excuse me." He called out as he entered the room. 

Sitting there, as if he hadn't moved since the last time Kevin had seen him, was Andrew. He was even further into his book now. Kevin hadn't taken much notice of it before, but looking at it now he could see that it was incredibly thick and from the cover, it appeared to be some kinda sci-fi novel.

"So," Kevin began trying to break the heavy silence in the room ", what are you reading?"

Instead of responding, Andrew just held up the book so Kevin could see the cover and then went back to reading.

"Oh, cool. Seems interesting. Do you like it?"

"Yes."

"Um, what do you like about it?"

"It's unique."

"Cool."

Kevin laughed awkwardly as he sat himself down in a chair. 

Almost as soon as he had taken a seat, the door swung open violently.

"Hello everyone!" Neil bellowed as he entered the room. "Guess who found us another member!"

**Author's Note:**

> I had been thinking about this kind of AU a lot for awhile now and decided that in the spirit of Haruhi "if it doesn't exist, just make it yourself" Suzumiya, I'd give it a try. I'm not sure how far I'm gonna take this AU, but I do have the first few chapters planned out (even though mostly just introducing characters). But if people really like this than I might keep going!


End file.
